Own Your Weakness

Yesterday I had the opportunity to be interviewed on a podcast for financial advisors and most of the conversation was centered around LifeDesign+, how I arrived at wanting to work with clients in that capacity, and my own journey to realizing the importance of aligning the spirit, mind, and body.

As you might expect I was extremely excited to share my vision, thoughts, and experiences with the host and eventually his audience. I think my excitement will be obvious to listeners because of how quickly I talked, the tangents I took us down, the excitement and energy in my voice, and if I’m being honest…I talked a lot. 

Brevity is not a strength of mine, especially when I’m talking about something I’m passionate about.

As I reflected on the conversation this morning I had a moment where I wish I had said less and not allowed my Self to take us down various tangents along the way. I wish I had been more concise and a little less energetic in my answers—I realized this came from a place of fear of people not taking my view on financial planning, my personal experience, and my vision for LifeDesign+ seriously because I seemed all over the place with my fast and energetic talking.

What a stupid fear!

I’ve always admired individuals who said little but were able to say so much at the same time. The people I think of who are great at this carry so much power in their words and not a single word is wasted. I used to want to be able to do the same with my words.

But, I eventually accepted that will never be me because I am high energy and once I get going, I’m not slowing down and the ideas and thoughts just pour into my head. 

And that is okay.

Because of the excitement, energy, and passion that comes through the many words I end up using is what has allowed me to become an effective communicator—because I don’t hold back on what I want to say, my energy becomes contagious and listeners pick that energy up and move forward with it. Brevity would make me a weaker communicator—not only because it would prevent me from sharing my energy and passion with audiences, but because it would be inauthentically me and it would come across in my delivery—I wouldn’t be me if I was saying less.

What I used to consider a weakness and something I wanted to change, improvements can always be made, I actually the thing that allows me to have the greatest impact on others when I’m speaking—and this includes everyday conversations, not just interviews and on stage speaking.

That weakness you wish you didn’t have, might just be the thing that makes people appreciate you so much and if you changed it, you wouldn’t be making the impact on the world that you are. 

So own that weakness—maybe there are some areas to improve upon, but don’t change the thing that allows you to be authentically your Self.

See you tomorrow and keep pursuing,

JC